update - this is LONG but has really cute pictures

It has been two months since I updated.. sorry. Life has been eventful and I’ll pick up where I left off in September…

The boys found Brent’s ear muff things and had so much fun putting them on and they looked so darn cute I had to bust out the camera

Mid-month I finally gave in to Brent’s constant badgering and we took Daniel to get his first haircut. He did so well and, as expected, he looks like a little “old” man.


- Before, I loved his little mullet -

- During, look at that smile! -

- After, don't tell me he doesn't look like a little old man -

Near the end of the month Daniel and I few to Utah to attend the baby blessing of my brother John’s new daughter Serena. The Navy transferred him to Norfolk, VA (from Oak Harbor, WA) and they were making the drive across the country and stopped in Provo along the way where most of my family is so we could all be together for that event. I had a wonderful time and wish I could have stayed longer. Here are some pictures from that trip;

- Me and Mary (1 week from delivery) I'd never seen her pregnant in person before.. I got such a kick out of seeing my little sister all big and preggers.. she had such a cute waddle.

- My studly brother John, My dad and Daniel -

- My beautiful Mother and me -

- My equally beautiful Grandma Eddington and me (can you see where I get my eyes?) -

- 3 of my nieces, you can't get a more precious picture than this -

- John holding his new little angel, Serena who sleeps like a rock -

October was an extremely busy month but it had many highlights. On the 10^th I celebrated my birthday and my neighbor/friend organized a surprise birthday party/ice cream social for three of us ladies that had birthdays that week. I was really touched since nothing like that has ever been done for me. I did meet my goal for my weight by my birthday. I had a good experience doing my Biggest Loser diet and so I started it over again after the 30 days were up. I ended up losing 4 pounds in those 30 days and another 1 pound in the second 30 days. Granted I didn’t follow it as strictly the second time as the first. I’m almost to the point where I am going to repeat it one more time. The food was good and I really liked being told what to eat for every meal and snack every day. It left no room for cheating.

Then came Halloween. Jacob is at such a fun age where he is starting to realize what is going on and then gets really excited about it. The week before Halloween we attending our ward’s trunk-or-treat and Jacob went as a Lion, Daniel was a giraffe, and I went as an injured jogger (I love doing make up). Brent went as himself. For the actual day we went to a “Not so scary” Halloween party that we were invited to that had a few other young families. We carried on the Turner tradition and made mummy dogs. I was a really happy woman since they served homemade root beer, which I love.


- My little lion and his brother the giraffe -

- ouch -

- At the trunk-or-treat -

Here are some pictures we took when we went to a pumpkin patch with the kids;






- Daniel LOVES his Dad and snuggles with him all the time -

The came a much anticipated event. Jacob’s third birthday. He talked about his birthday for a good two weeks before hand and is still talking about it now. He really likes robots and loves to imitate and talk like a robot so I thought it would be fun to make him a robot cake. His other obsession is fireworks and so when I went to my local cake shop and found sparklers in all the numbers I had to buy the number 3 to set atop his cake. The end result was one really fun cake and one really happy little boy. We invited a few of his friends over to play and celebrate with him and in all had a fun evening. I love that little boy. Sometimes I don’t always show it or I whine about the bad moments, but he really is precious to me. He is so smart and loving and I feel so privileged to be his mom. All of the big transitions I dreaded almost always ended up being easy. He transitioned from a crib to a bed without a hitch, he potty trained quickly and easily, he loves his routines and lets me know if I’ve missed or skipped something. He dances to music and sings along with to his favorite shows and his evening lullabies. He is always eager to help and always wants to be near me. I try to recognize that that won’t last forever and to have patience with him and enjoy these days. And I think that I do. I wouldn’t trade him in for anything or anyone.

- His Robot cake -
- The kids at his little party enjoying their sugar high -

- Daniel, with his mysterious fetish of putting this particular ball in his mouth (he'll keep it in there for an hour and only take it out to swallow and then put it right back in) -

That night (Jacob’s birthday) was the last night I nursed Daniel. I think we were both ready to be done and it was time. I nursed him for just over 15 months! I’ve loved my time with him and yet I also feel relieved to be done. I look forward to a nice break where my body is completely my own before having another baby.

Last week Daniel started walking!! We were told that he probably wouldn't walk until around 18 months so we are really thrilled about this. He is so proud of himself and loves exploring his new heights. I'm amazed at how much he has improved and how much faster he got in just one week.

And that brings y'all up to date! I will try not to let it go another two months before updating again. Life is busy but good and I wouldn't trade with anyone (at the moment anyway)

My next new thing

As most of you know, I really like "The Biggest Loser". The show, the idea, the motivation etc.. we'll I've read a few of the books they've put out and I have their recipe book for families. Well this latest book I've read I liked better than any of the others (so far) and so with September being a new month AND season 8 starting on the 15th I decided to try this diet/exercise program. I think it will be fun to be working along side the contestants and I've never seriously tried a diet before. I started yesterday so that day 7 (rest day) falls on Sunday. It is basically eating healthy and making sure your meals and snacks are complete. Like I usually have an apple as a snack and have learned I need to add a stick of string cheese to it to make the snack more complete. This is actually more food than I usually eat and the biggest change will be switching to healthier alternatives (egg white vs. whole egg, Ezekiel bread vs. white, brown vs. white rice etc.) and a significant decrease in desserts and sugar intake.

This was my first breakfast - blueberries, a homemade egg mcmuffin and milk. I followed Day 1 almost to the letter and thought it was all good and filling. Their exercise program is WAY to easy for me and so I added additional exercises on my own.




I thought I would add this fun picture of Jacob enjoying his very first ice cream cone. This was taken last Tuesday after going to Baskin Robbins to take advantage of their $1 ice cream cone night. I didn't know what to get him, he has never had his own ice cream, only shared ours. Also it was getting close to bed time and I didn't want to load him up on sugar so I got him reduced sugar Oreo cookie ice cream. He loved it!!

What I've been up to

The other day my friend Desire came over and we made jam, real bottled jam! I've only attempted freezer jam up until now. I made one batch of strawberry and one batch of raspberry (thinking of you Mom). I was surprised how easy it was and that I had all the tools to do it. I love my food processor, it chopped all my fruit into little bits in seconds. They turned out great and so so yummy!

- strawberry is on the left, the raspberry is on the right -

Other than that all my focus has been on potty training Jacob. He has been out of diapers during the day since Memorial Day weekend. It has been hard to find underwear that fits him and that he likes, but this week I did find some and he is wearing them. So I don't have a streak running around my house anymore.

I've also been walking on my treadmill again and trying to get ready for jogging. I'm scared of hurting my foot, it isn't better yet, but I'm "testing the waters" and seeing what I can and can't do. I worked out 6 out of 7 days last week and aim to repeat that this week. It feels so good to be exercising and doing cardio again.

This morning I decided to take some pictures of the boys;

My observation: Jacob is so white next to Daniel. I love the expression on Daniel's face...



And this is a good shot of Daniel's "orange nose" I guess I feed him too many carrots and yams;

The two of them... and my toe.

Jacob's first burn

Last Friday I was making Oatmeal like we often do. Jacob likes to help me and this time he decided to touch the stove just after I had taken the pot off of it. It wasn't red so he probably thought it would be ok.. well, here is his first burn. It is over his thumb and the top of his palm. Poor kid.

Fun times

I took these on Saturday night. It is so fun to see my boys next to each other and that they are starting to play together (a little bit). I look at the back of Daniel like in these pictures and it reminds me of when Jacob was that small and then I think that it wasn't that long ago and now look at him.. he's a little boy! Sheesh.



These pictures I took on Sunday morning. It is our tradition to make muffins for breakfast and Jacob is a very willing helper, especially when it comes to licking the beater. (These are chocolate chip muffins that I baked in a muffin top pan.. because the muffin top is the best, right? The "naked" looking one on the top right is a muffin without chocolate chips for Brent, who doesn't like chocolate chips).

It's been a while...

I went and got my stitches out on Tuesday and was informed I had a desmoid tumor which is just a bunch of fibrous tissue that can accumulate when there was trauma to the area like a bug bite or pimple. Since it was on my shin and I've never had a pimple there I think it must have been from a bug bite. I'm glad it wasn't anything worse. I also have a mild case of eczema. Joy.

Tonight I am teaching a mini-class at enrichment on budgeting. I've been working hard on it and I'm excited to see how it goes. Also, I am on a really big food storage kick right now and I'm really having fun with it. I found this blog about food storage and this is what drew me in. Watch the 10 min video she put up on Jan. 25th, I found it helpful and motivating. This is such a fun blog to look at and I was immediately drawn into it, it is so addicting.

I have consistently worked out for 5 days a week since the beginning of the year and my weight is stuck. I was seeing about a 1 pound weight loss every 10 days and now I have reached a plateau. I know we all have several weight plateaus and it means I just have to work extra hard to get over it.. but I'm still bummed out by it. Side note: I'm really enjoying my new treadmill.

Let see.. the kids are both doing well. Except that Jacob keeps hitting his head. He doesn't watch were he is going and will run into walls, car doors, fall down the last few stairs.. you name it. He has had two really bad hits in the last week that gave him big goose eggs on his forehead. They look awful and I have to keep explaining what happened to him, lest I be accused of child abuse or something. So far today he has run into a wall and hit the side of his head, let's see how the day progresses.

Bad news: the medical bills just keep coming and keep piling up. I find it very depressing.

Brent is the same old. He doesn't do much.

The dermatologist

Today all four of us went in to get checked out. It started out as an appointment for Daniel, then I scheduled us all to be seen as each of us had something that needed to be checked or done.

Daniel (our little cheetah) because of all the spots and vacillations on his head, neck, face and back. I was told the large spot on his crown is a port wine stain (type of birth mark) and all the spots are also birth marks. She said most would fade but others would most likely remain.

Jacob was diagnosed with Atopic dermatitis which is a type of eczema, luckily his is a mild case. This is a hereditary hypersensitivity of the skin. My dad and myself have sensitive skin, so it looks like it is being passed on another generation. The good news is that he will most likely grow out of it and simply have sensitive skin as an adult (vs. the rash/bumps/dry patches he has now that need to be treated with special creams).

I was going in to have my skin looked at also. When I was pregnant with Daniel I had a patch of eczema on my right leg flare up and it is back. My prescription cream wasn't working so she gave me a prescription for something stronger. Also, I had a few moles on my right leg I wanted removed because I keep nicking them when I shave. Well, she looked at one and said that it wasn't a mole but a tumor! So right then and there she numbed me up, removed it and stitched the skin closed (3 stitches!). She is sending it in for biopsy and I go back in 12 days to have the stitches removed and find out what it was. YIKES. I'm glad it bothered me enough to have it looked at. I would have never known the difference.

We had to pay $80 in copays to have all of us seen, but I'm really glad we have access to medical care and treatment. And the money to cover the cost. I am overwhelmed by how much medical stuff I have going on continuously, it all just seems a bit too much.

My week

This week went ok I suppose. My treadmill still doesn't work and the tech guy didn't show up yesterday, so that is being put off yet again. My friend Angela and I have come up with a plan to help motivate each other. At the end of each day we email each other and say what we did for exercise and how we did with our eating. I'm finding it very helpful to have the accountability and support. I worked out 5 days this week. I'm hoping to keep that up so that when my treadmill is finally "running" (hee hee) I can start right out on some nice workouts without delay.

We decided to switch services from Comcast to Verizon. It is exactly the same cost and it will be a faster fiber optic internet, we will get BYU-TV as part of standard cable and we will have a DVR for 6 months free of charge. I've always wanted to try one of those. Hopefully it will be a nice change void of complication.

I got the bill for Daniel's birth yesterday. You know how you sign those papers saying if your insurance doesn't pay up you are responsible? Well, the bill is 6 grand and due in the next 20 days. I'm going to call on Monday and try to be nice while getting our insurance to pay up. Stupid idiots. We have Providence Preferred insurance and delivered at a Providence hospital! How can they not pay that bill??!! I'm a little ticked. I don't need the added stress of all the insurance crap I've had to deal with. I'm glad to have it and have some coverage as some is better than none. But boy am I workin' for what we do get. We got another bill this week for Daniel's shoes. They cost over $800 and our portion is $120. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with medical bills right now. We owe around $3,000 (separate from that 6k bill I just got) and have set up a payment plan to help us manage it. The sad thing is there is more to come I'm sure.

Today we went as a family to the Children's Discovery Museum. Jacob has so much fun there and it was really nice to trade off interacting with him with Brent. Bob the Builder was there and Jacob got to meet him and give him 5. I would say he had the most fun in the water area, since that was all new for him. We were there for only 2 hours but we played hard and then came home for lunch. Both boys crashed and took a nice long naps. This enabled me to have some time to read, take a nap and workout to a DVD.

Tomorrow is expected to be a low-key day, which will be nice.

Look how much Jacob has changed

January 2008 (14 months)


June 2008 (19 months)


December 2008 (25 months)


I was thinking about how much Jacob has grown up this year so I decided to go through some pictures and compare them. He has gone from just being able to say "daddy" and "bye bye" in January to a vocabulary of over 100 words today. He has grown into a little boy and I just love watching him play and explore. I look forward to him interacting with Daniel more as Daniel gets older, I think they will be good buds and have loads of fun.

SNOW!!

Today was an absolute first for me.. church was ::gasp:: canceled!

Overnight it started snowing and this morning there was already 2" and by the end of the day we had almost 4". Schools are closed tomorrow and so is half the town. The reason they cancel events is because they have no snow removal equipment so the roads are too dangerous to travel on. We have to wait until the sun melts the snow away. We are expecting more snow tonight and tomorrow and then Wed/TH and then even then another snow storm next Sun. I wonder if they will cancel church again.

We stayed inside all day long and played with the kids and watched Lion King and a children's Christmas movie called "Alabaster's Song" and then some bible stuff on the discovery channel. I, unfortunately, am sick with a cold so I rested this afternoon. I kinda hope things are shut down tomorrow also so Brent can stay home and help with the kids while I try to rest and get better.

I love the snow, it is just so beautiful. It was falling much of the day, these big soft snowflakes and I loved watching it fall. I taught Jacob to say, "snow, pretty!" it was great. Snow is the one thing I really missed while I lived in California and then last year when we got only light snow that melted off by noon I was sad.. so I was very excited to wake up to a white winter wonderland this morning. Here are some pictures;

- These first three pictures are of our front porch (which is under an overhang and we still had this much snow) -





- We left Jacob in his pj's all day to fully enjoy a real snow day -

- This is what I saw this morning when I opened the curtain of our sliding door -

Jacob is VERY sick

We took him to the hospital to get checked today. On top of having the stomach flu (which is now gone) he has a 101.2 degree fever, an ear infection in both ears and he tested positive for the RSV virus (a highly contagious respiratory virus for children). He is on antibiotics for the ear infection and has been prescribed an infant albuterol inhaler until further notice (until the coughing and wheezing stops which could be 6 weeks or longer). The poor boy is lethargic and will not eat. It breaks my heart to see him so sick and I would appreciate it if you all would keep him in your prayers.

(Brent and I are doing well)